Taylor Stevenson: James VanDerZee

James VanDerZee was a photographer who documented Harlem during the Harlem Renissance. Capturing the up and coming black middle-class that came from the Harlem Remissance. He wanted to show his community in a light that they weren't often seen. He would focus heavily on small details often retouching his images in the darkroom and adding props in spaces he would “bald-spots”. Van Der Zee claimed that, “I tried to see that every picture was better-looking than the person”. He would retouch his images in the darkroom using montage, which is using two negatives to create one image. I admire the way that VanDerZee is able to create a story using a traditional studio space.